From his initial vision of working for the antiterrorist unit and identifying the forces of the dangerous Shining Path terrorist organization to the realization that his passion for running has led him to run from his own home and vision of life, Carlos R. Serv?n creates a powerful memoir of
Book Review on Running Dreams by D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest book Review If you were disabled and blinded by a bomb, would you then immigrate to a safer yet unknown land? Running Dreams presents this situation when Peruvian cadet Carlos finds his initial dreams and life exploded by a bomb's aftermath, destroying not only his abilities, but his ideals of family, place, and safety. In search of the latter (and peace) Carlos moves from military life at the Peruvian academy to the unknown in the United States; there to experience a different form of explosive change and challenge that further tests and revises his convictions and his place in the world. this world that draws readers into the atmosphere of Peru and the move between that nation and an alien world. After he is injured, Carlos counts down the hours until he can visit the U.S., there to be more effectively treated by doctors who can offer him better alternatives for his life. What he finds is much more than medical relief, but a renewed sense of life purpose despite moving away from everyone he knows and loves and into an environment not only tempered by blindness, but replete with prejudice and additional trials. There are many memoirs of immigrant experiences on library shelves, but what sets Running Dreams apart from many is its focus on healing and coming to terms with a very different life: "As I thought about the immigration process and my need for a sponsor, my brain worked overtime. And those were not my only worries. When my training ended, I would have nowhere to live, and I?d be unemployed. Add to those my inadequate language skills and my aching homesickness. Still, I didn?t complain. I had not come to the United States assuming that everything would just fall into place. I knew it would be tough going. I thought to myself, Well, here I am. And, sure enough, it is just as tough as I imagined it would be." Whether Carlos is tackling his new blindness, paperwork, social and legal obstacles, or the price of success, readers walk easily in his shoes and experience, with him, the ups and downs of his life: "I thought of my mother who suffered?maybe more than I did?when I lost my eyesight. I thought of my humble roots in Peru, my poor neighborhood, the jobs I had as a teenager, and getting into the police academy. I thought about the struggles I faced when I arrived in the United States and all my sleepless nights studying." The process by which he gains a new, different vision of opportunity and how to grasp it will involve not just readers who are immigrants or disabled, but anyone who has faced a total challenge to their dreams and familiar life, requiring a sea change of revision to perceptions and psyches. Libraries looking for a memoir that stands out for its dual exploration of disability and achievement as well as immigrant experience will find Running Dreams a winner not just for patrons, but for book clubs looking for standout reading about immigrant dreams and realities